SUDDENLY THE STORM Sweeps Three Naledi Theatre Awards Prior to Cape Town Opening

Paul Slabolepszy's latest play, SUDDENLY THE STORM, swept up three awards from its six nominations at the Naledi Theatre Awards in Johannesburg last night, scooping the coveted award for Best New South African Script for Slabolepszy, as well as the awards for Best Theatre Set Design (Greg King) and Best Lighting Design (Wesley France). Cape Town audiences have the chance to catch this riveting drama, fresh after its triumph at the Naledis, when it opens in the city tomorrow night, 7 June at the Baxter Flipside.

The Cape Town run of SUDDENLY THE STORM follows its unprecedented success at the Market Theatre and the Theatre on the Square. The Baxter Theatre Centre continues its long-standing relationship with the Market Theatre by presenting their acclaimed production for Cape audiences.

Combative, volatile and constantly on the verge of exploding, Dwayne and Shanell Combrink are two halves of a white South African working-class couple, living an uneasy truce as they struggle with the day-to-day trials of scraping together a living and dreaming competing dreams. But beneath Dwayne's angry, violent exterior lies the heartbreak that governs his attitude to life. Dwayne is a man in mourning. Shanell believes his current level of despair was sparked by the death of his childhood friend and recent work partner, Jonas, but the source of his mourning and anger lies much further back. When the elegant and self-contained Namhla Gumede, born on 16 June 1976, arrives on their doorstep seeking answers to questions that have remained buried for forty years, Dwayne and Shanell finally find out the truth. What starts out as a smouldering dark comedy suddenly turns into a roller-coaster ride of startling revelations, rage and recrimination before the storm finally breaks.

One of South Africa's leading and much-loved theatre stalwarts, playwright and actor Slabolepszy has teamed up frequent collaborator, theatre and television director Bobby Heaney, to create this distinctly South African theatre experience. With Slabolepszy also appearing on stage as Dwayne, the cast is rounded out by Charmaine Weir-Smith as Shanell and Renate Stuurman as Namhla.

Slabolepszy is an acclaimed playwright, as well as radio, television and screenwriter of more than thirty plays which include MOOI STREET MOVES, MAKING LIKE AMERICA, SMALLHOLDING, BRAAILAAITIES, PALE NATIVES, MY LOW-FAT ALMOST ITALIAN WEDDING, THE RETURN OF ELVIS DU PISANIE and HEEL AGAINST THE HEAD. SUDDENLY THE STORM is his first new play since 2009 and marks his first return to the stage as an actor in nearly two decades.

SUDDENLY THE STORM runs at the Baxter Flipside from 7 June to 8 July at 19:30 nightly, with matinee performances on 24 June, 1 and 8 July at 14:00. There are no performances from 15 to 19 June. Tickets range in price from R130 - R160 and can be booked online through Computicket, by phone on 0861 915 8000, or in person at any Shoprite or Checkers outlet. The show carries an age restriction of 16 years.